The present invention relates to a method for determining if a tissue is a malignant tumor tissue, a benign tumor tissue, or a normal or benign tissue using Raman spectroscopy.
Because a sufficiently effective method for preventing cancer has not yet been developed, cancer research has focused on the most effective ways to treat organisms that are diagnosed as having cancer. As different as the various forms of treatment have been--ranging from excision to radiation to chemotherapy--all treatments have relied on one crucial step, detection of the cancerous tissue. If cancer is detected early enough, it may be possible to determine where in the body the cancer originated. This information may be useful in deciding on the most safe and effective treatment for the cancer.
Typically, cancer occurs when a normal cell undergoes a change which causes the cell to multiply at a metabolic rate for exceeding that of its neighboring cells. Continued multiplication of the cancerous cell frequently results in the creation of a mass of cells called a tumor. Cancerous tumors are harmful because they grow at the expense of normal neighboring cells, ultimately destroying them. In addition, cancerous cells are often capable of traveling throughout the body via the lymphatic and circulatory systems and of creating new tumors where they arrive. Consequently, the importance of detecting a cancer before the cancer has spread to diverse portions of the body cannot be minimized.
It should be noted that, in addition to tumors which are cancerous (also referred to as malignant tumors), there are tumors which are non-cancerous. Non-cancerous tumors are commonly referred to as benign tumors. For the reasons discussed earlier, it is useful to be able to determine whether a tumor is cancerous or benign.